1. Field of the Invention
The present invention broadly relates to emergency reporting services, and more particularly, to an emergency reporting service that employs TCP/IP (Transmission Control Protocol/Internet Protocol) messaging to report a user's emergency condition to an emergency service center (e.g., the police).
2. Description of the Related Art
FIG. 1 illustrates a typical prior art emergency reporting arrangement using a telephone 10. A person in need of emergency help dials a designated emergency reporting number (e.g., ‘911’) to connect to an emergency service center (ESC) 12. The emergency service center 12 may be a 911 response center, a police station, a hospital, a fire station, a combination of these places or any other location equipped for dispatching emergency relief. A carrier network 14 may electrically connect the telephone 10 to a receiving apparatus (e.g., an operator headset receiver) at the ESC 12. The carrier network 14 may include, individually or in combination, the plain old telephone system (POTS), the more advanced public switched telephone network (PSTN), or a wireless communication network (e.g., a cellular phone network) when the telephone 10 is, for example, a cellular phone (“cell phone”).
Instead of dialing all the digits contained in the designated emergency reporting number (e.g., ‘9’, ‘1’, ‘1’), a user may instead “speed dial” the number by programming a single key on the telephone 10. In this manner, the user need not press individual digits of the phone number, but, instead, may need to press only a pre-marked speed dial key. Some modern cell phones come equipped with a “button” or key on their keypads that is dedicated to dial a predetermined emergency phone number (e.g., ‘911’).
Another emergency reporting device is shown in FIG. 2, which depicts a prior art “panic button” 16 in communication with the emergency service center 12. The panic button 16 may be broadly categorized as a wearable wireless transmitter that finds applications in situations when the user may not easily access the telephone 10 or when the user is not able to dial the ESC's 12 telephone number. Users of the panic button 16 may include, among others, elderly people and people with delicate health. Normally the user wears the panic button 16 around the user's neck and presses the panic button when an emergency condition arises. The panic button 16 wirelessly transmits an “alarm signal” to a base unit or receiving device (not shown) attached to the user's phone line. The alarm signal instructs the base unit to initiate a phone call to a preprogrammed phone number, usually the phone number of an establishment or company that provides support services and maintenance for such panic buttons in a given geographical area.
A support service provider (SSP) 18 receives the phone call from the base unit of the panic button 16 via the carrier network 14. The base unit may send over the phone line an identification code or number pre-assigned to the panic button 16 by the SSP 18. Therefore, an operator at the SSP 18 may immediately compare the received identification code with a customer database to identify the user of the panic button 16. Upon identifying the user, the operator in the SSP's 18 facility may place a phone call to the ESC 12 giving requisite information (e.g., the name of the person in distress, the location where help is needed, any known medical history of the person requiring emergency help, etc.) to the operator or relief help dispatcher at the ESC 12. All such information may be stored in the SSP's 18 customer database (not shown) when the panic button 16 is assigned to a particular user. Instead of manual database look-up, the SSP 18 may implement an automatic database search and comparison process to instantly identify the operator of the panic button 16 as soon as an alarm indication is received from the base unit.
Normally, the carrier network 14 in the panic button application of FIG. 2 is a wireline network, e.g., the POTS or the PSTN. However, in a situation involving close monitoring of the elderly or the disabled (e.g., monitoring of patients in a large hospital complex), the panic button technology may be employed via a local wireless carrier network 14. The patient may activate the personal panic button 16 and the carrier network 14 may wirelessly transfer the help request to appropriate staff or emergency relief personnel in the hospital's ESC 12. The SSP 18 may not be needed in such an environment as symbolically indicated by the direct dotted connection between the panic button 16 and the ESC 12.
From the foregoing, it can be observed that the prior art devices used to report emergency conditions (e.g., the telephone 10 in FIG. 1 and the panic button 16 in FIG. 2) primarily send emergency help request messages through telephone signals in a circuit-switched telephone environment, i.e., in a telephone environment that “dedicates” an actual physical circuit between the caller and the called party. This “traditional” approach to request emergency help by calling ‘911’ may not be effective sometimes, for example, when the person in need of help cannot dial the numbers to place a ‘911’ call or when that person cannot orally respond to the questions of an operator receiving the ‘911’ call. Furthermore, the operators or assistants receiving phone calls at the ESC 12 may get swamped by a large number of phone calls and may need to put the last caller on hold prior to reviewing the caller's emergency situation. This may not be desirable, especially when the caller's situation demands prompt and instant attention. Additionally, the ESC 12 or the SSP 18 may have a finite number of incoming telephone lines. In that situation, because of the circuit-switched nature of telephone communications, the person placing the emergency call may end up receiving a line “busy” signal instead of an operator's voice.
The availability of modern high-speed data processors and the continually growing popularity of the Internet make it desirable to offer an emergency reporting device that is capable of reporting a user's need for emergency help using TCP/IP message packets sent over the Internet to the ESC 12. It is also desirable for the support service provider 18 or a telephone company (telco) to offer a subscription-based or usage-based emergency reporting service using TCP/IP messaging over the Internet.